June 2008

Most Endangered Places for 2008


On May 12th, DCPL announced its annual list of Most Endangered Places for 2008 at the historic Stevens Elementary School (1866), 1050 21st Street, NW. Since 1996, DCPL has announced a list of Most Endangered Places to draw attention to Washington, DC’s historically, culturally and architecturally significant places that may be threatened by ill-advised alteration or demolition through neglect or abandonment.

This year's diverse list embodies preservation issues that are prevalent across the country and more importantly, right here at home in the city of Washington.

Click here for a complete list of the Most Endangered Places for 2008.

DC Modern Receives Vision Award

On June 12th, the DC Preservation League received a 2008 Vision Award from the Committee of 100 on the Federal City for the sold-out DC Modern Symposium "for being one of the first such symposiums in the country to bring attention to the wealth of mid-twentieth-century architecture in urban America, through a series of sessions, tours and architect interviews that introduced attendees to the social, economic, and political forces that influenced and shaped this era."

Two significant buildings addressed in the symposium were recently nominated as DC Landmarks by the General Services Administration (GSA): the United States Tax Court (1972-74) by architect Victor A. Lundy and Marcel Breuer's Robert C. Weaver Federal Building (HUD), (1968).  For more information on these modern masterpieces, see

HPRB Designates DC Landmarks

The DC Historic Preservation Review Board unanimously voted to approve two nominations co-sponsored by DCPL for inclusion in the DC Inventory of Historic Sites:

The Strand Theatre
5129-5131 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE
(Co-Sponsored by ANC 7C)

The Strand Theatre is a brick two-story storefront and theatre erected in 1928 and designed by architect Abe E. Lichtman.  The theatre is significant for the role it played in the historically African-American community of Deanwood.

George M. Barker Company Warehouse
1525 7th Street, NW
(Co-Sponsored by Bread for the City)

The Barker Warehouse is a two-story brick warehouse designed by A.M. Poynton and constructed in 1906 as a lumber, coal and wood distribution facility. The building's symmetrical façade, with its arched main entrance, is topped by an unusual stepped and paneled parapet. Occupied by the George M. Barker Company for much of the twentieth century, more recently the building has been the home to Bread for the City, a non-profit community service organization.

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